We are a small collective of visual journalists, documentarians,media workers and activist educators collaborating withcommunities to help them tell their stories.

Storytelling

We create photography and video projects used in education, advocacy, and activism. Based in documentary, journalism and digital media we help communities and grassroots groups share the stories that they need to tell.

Community

The weight of Ballad’s work is built around direct partnerships and we work with our partners to shape projects and create change, step-by-step. We’re looking for similarly minded folks to help grow this into something bigger.

Representation

Our priority is to build projects around the unique character of the issues at hand and the communities in which they are based. We help our partners accurately represent themselves through a participatory model of media production.

Ballad Media Collective

All content owned by Ballad and our partners, but licensed
through Creative Commons. Individual projects may differ.
Use & share for common good – not for profit.

cbnd

Ballad 2014

A shared way of telling the story

We are a small collective of visual journalists, media workers and activist educators collaborating with communities and grassroots organizations to help them tell their story. Focused on social justice issues and rooted in social documentary, we use both photography and video to look critically at the issues behind the stories we help tell. We always work in partnership with a community and the work we produce is used in advocacy campaigns, public education, or simply to tell the story right.

We are united by our desire to produce high-quality, in-depth stories and media grounded in responsibility, accuracy, accountability, and speaking truth-to-power. As a collective we offer a broad range of complementary skills. Our priority is journalism based on solidarity and partnership; a journalism that best represents both the unique character of the issues at hand and the communities in which they are based. Most importantly we aim to help our partners accurately represent themselves through a participatory model of storytelling.

We share the view that mainstream journalism practiced by the international news media and well-meaning international NGOs often reinforces stereotypes and misrepresents the people who are the subjects of their work.

At the same time, while independent visual journalism is booming in both numbers and visual quality, much of what is being produced takes its lead from traditional journalism, and its potential to facilitate meaningful change remains largely unexplored.

This is why we formed Ballad. We believe whole-heartedly that by working collaboratively, guided by the expertise of our partners, everyone’s skills are effectively put to use, and the stories we tell are better in every way.

Ballad Media Collective

All content owned by Ballad and our partners, but licensed
through Creative Commons. Individual projects may differ.
Use & share for common good – not for profit.

cbnd

Ballad 2014

Partners & Projects

Hello, nice to meet you.

We want to work with you! Ballad is currently seeking out new partnerships – ideally with small organizations and community groups interested in long-term relationships and on-going collaborations. That said, we are also interested in shorter-term arrangements if there are specific projects that you want to work on together.